The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: Whence come the Priests?
The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter
Blog to discuss the book "The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation" and current events that point to the events described therein.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Whence come the Priests?
There is a near perfect storm out there conspiring against vocations to the priesthood. The post-Vatican II era has yielded an environment of feminism, modernism and apathy that has nearly killed off the priesthood.
Where do Priests come from? The obvious answer is "families". So we start there. Why don't more families yield Priests? Well, for one thing, there are fewer families to start with. According to recent studies, more couples are choosing co-habitation without marriage. Beyond that, more people are putting off child bearing until later in life and only then having a small family. To do so, they are opting for artificial birth control. So a "family" centered around the modernist impulse for material wealth and founded on a sin against moral teaching is not really likely to yield aPriest.
In Africa, there are many vocations. The Priesthood there affords a roof over the Priest's head, food and protection from AIDS if the Priest observes the rule of celibacy. In the US, temptation taunts the young at every turn - material and sexual. Instead of seeking refuge from a world gone mad with sexuality, the western Priest joined in the madness as evidenced by the abuse scandals.
Social pressure even from within Catholic families also contributes to the lack of vocations. Parents' and grandparents' expectations for success do not include the Priesthood for their sons. There was once great pride in having a Priest come from one's family. No longer.
The Church itself has instituted reforms that tend to dampen vocations. The altar server ministry, once reserved for young males is now dominated by females. One observer stated at the time this change was put in effect that within a generation, "the male altar server would cease to exist". Holy Thursday, the Feast of the Lord's Supper" has always included the ritual of the washing of the feet. This symbolizes the institution of the Priesthood. But at most parishes now, women are included in the ritual. How this can be viewed as anything other than blasphemy is beyond me.
Finally, the abysmal faith formation at most parishes does nothing to prepare the young for vocations. Most graduating seniors can barely recite basic Church teaching. The Religious, Sisters and Brothers who once dominated Catholic education, have all but disappeared, replaced with poorly formed laypeople who teach what They believe or "feel" about Church teaching.
I once asked Steven Paul, author of Apocalypse - Letter by Letter what was in store for a Church with so few vocations. His prophetic response was "maybe God knows that we won't be needing as many Priests".
